An absorbing movie
MOVIE REVIEW: RAAZI RATING: 8/10 REVIEWER: Fakir Hassen
THE title, translating roughly as “willing”, comes about by the willingness of the lead character, young Muslim lass Sehmat (Alia Bhatt), to succumb to her father’s wish to become an Indian intelligence spy by marrying Pakistani military officer Iqbal (Vicky Kaushal), whose father is also high up in the Pakistani military.
Living in Kashmir, the naïve young girl is trained to become a committed patriotic spy right under the noses of her new husband and in-laws, sending back information to her handler in India.
Hiding transmitter equipment of the 1970s, long before telephones were not restricted to copper cables and party lines, in her own home, is not an easy task.
Then, several things happen, which call on Sehmat to make tough choices that any secret agent is likely to face at some stage.
The decisions she has to take brings her into conflict with her love for her country and her new family, especially when her double identity is discovered, by a servant in the house who dies under mysterious circumstances.
Director Meghna Gulzar takes a different approach to telling a tale of espionage.
Films with this theme will usually have lots of guns and explosions as the spies on either side go about their work, but there is only one bomb going off in the entire film.
For the rest, it is a powerful story of emotions that are played out in the process, rather than action scenes.
Alia, as she has done in several films since her debut, a few years ago, again tackles a different and difficult role, and emerges triumphant as she steals the spotlight in the film, proving yet again that she is capable of so much belying her youthful looks.
The film is currently on circuit.